Legend of the Ishikara
by taowithatemper
Summary: Len Tao has learned many things throughout his adventures in the Shaman Tournament. Even since it has ended, he sees it as a whole new opportunity. There's much more to experience, and an abundance of stories to tell. But when Len saves an innocent girl, everything will change for him once again.
1. Back to the Desert

"Wh-where are we?"

We were surrounded once again by plain, brown surface, unchanging and riddled with mirages. The sweltering heat was the only indication I needed to know where we were.

"We're back in the desert…" I said to Trey, shielding my eyes from the bright sun.

I stood up slowly and continued to observe my surroundings. Yoh, Rio, Faust, Jocco, Lyserg, Morty Anna, Lee Pai Long and Jun had also made it back safely.

"The desert?" Trey repeated, brushing himself. "So what happened then? Did we win?"

Yoh picked his sword up off the ground and turned to us. "Yep! We sure did!" he replied with a grin.

"Well, I suggest first thing's first," Lyserg started, "We should head for the nearest city and start making our way to the airport."

I held myself back from rolling my eyes at the green haired freak. "No." I said flatly.

The others turned suddenly to stare at me in awe. Crossing my arms across my chest, I took a step back and averted my eyes from them. There had not been one single time in the whole duration of the tournament that we spent with Lyserg that I had ever agreed with him. His negative attitude and his abhorrent view on the world made me almost hate him from the very beginning. Not to mention he nearly turned us all into practice dummies the very first day we met him.

"We're in the middle of the desert, we just defeated the 'all powerful' Zeke Asakura," I let as much sarcasm into my tone as I possibly could. "And the Shaman Tournament has been called off indefinitely. What hurry are we in to get out of here?"

Trey and Jocco stared at me in disbelief. "Y-you really want to stay here Len?"

"No I don't want to stay here, you dolt!" I snapped, my temper flaring slightly. "I'm merely saying that rushing around aimlessly is a waste of time."

"Pointy-head has a good point," Rio agreed. "It's not like we have one month to find our way home. We can enjoy the open road!"

The group all started squawking at the same time. Only once the spirits emerged did I dig my sword into the ground and yell loudly. "Enough!"

The bickering ceased temporarily and focus returned to the question at hand.

"I agree with Len and Rio!" Yoh chimed in with a smile. "We've had a hard journey, so let's just take it easy for a while!"

A mutual consensus came around the whole group that we shouldn't get ahead of ourselves, and maybe have some fun along the way. We were free, not constrained by time or perilous obligations. The enemies who had been on our tails were either gone or too scared to face us. It almost seemed like we could be normal teenagers again, but the likeliness of that happening was slim to none.

I couldn't deny it though, I was not eager to return home. Living under my uncle's reign for so long had kept me from what I really needed to experience in the world. What little I had experienced was blurred by the shadow of rage and hatred, and I certainly didn't want that shadow to remain. It was all thanks to my new friends that I was given this sort of second chance, and even though I would never admit it, they were the reason that I didn't want to return home any time soon.

"Okay, well then," Jocco said, breaking the momentary silence. "Maybe we don't have to take off right away but I don't think standing in one place for a long time is a good idea either."

We all nodded again and set off down the road we had landed near. Before long, the group had staggered themselves, and started high spirited conversations. Trey, Jocco, and Yoh were all having a stand-off over who could eat the most cheese burgers while Morty silently moderated. Lyserg was showing Rio how to dowse. Anna, Tamara, and Jun were submersed in girlish subjects, and Faust and Eliza were trailing along behind us.

After what may have been several hours, my eyes were drawn to the eastern horizon by a startling flash of light. I stared for a moment, but the light never reoccurred.

"Len?" Jun said softly from behind me. "Is everything alright?"

"Yes. Yes, everything is fine," I hesitated, glancing back to the craggy horizon again.

I passed the phenomenon off as an illusion caused by the heat, but shortly after it came again, and I wasn't the only one to see it.

"Did you guys see that?" Trey asked, pointing in the direction it had come from.

"What was that?" Rio said in awe.

I took a step closer to the edge of the rocks and watched as more of the strange lights danced through the valley below. It occurred to me then that it wasn't a heat illusion.

"It looks like it might be a fight. That glow is characteristic of spirits," I explained, drawing my sword as precaution.

"Well let's go check it out!" Yoh suggested eagerly.

In unison, we all generated spirit control and descended the cliff. We observed that the fight was further down than we thought, but made way carefully with weapons drawn. The clash of metal on metal and energy explosions was beginning to grow louder, and as we came to a clearing, the contestants were revealed. Three grown men in long cloaks were up against only one person, much smaller, but I couldn't make out many details of the person. We didn't have to linger for long to realize the singular fighter was being creamed, but also that that fighter would not back down.

Yoh motioned silently for us to climb up the embankment so more could be seen. We reached the top in time to see the lone shaman fall to the ground hard, and struggle to get back up. The opposing side decided to show some mercy, and gave their target some time.

"Now, for the last time, tell us where Len Tao is and we'll let you live!" one of them spoke in a loud, gruff voice.

"What?" I gasped at the mention of my name.

I still couldn't see who it was these men were after, but judging from their size I could only guess it was a child.

"I've already told you: I don't know who that is!" the target shouted desperately in an accented voice, much like my own.

"Look kid, lying's not in your best interests either! Quasar, get that lying pest!"

All three of the men seemed to be wielding ferocious ninja spirits, and the middle one, who I assumed to be the leader, had just sent his guardian ghost on the little one.

"I don't know who those men are or why they're looking for me, but I don't want this innocent person to suffer for me! Bason!" I growled, lengthening my sword and moving to jump out on the men.

"Hang on Len, it could be a trap!" Yoh warned.

I watched avidly as the next man attacked the target, who hadn't even gotten up from the last one. "I don't care! I have to help. If it's me they want, then it's me they'll get!"

Without any further discussion, I launched myself off the cliff, performing spirit control as I flew. "Bason! Spirit Form, into the Sword!" I landed between the two sides in time to block the third attack, and nearly send it straight back to them.

As the dust settled, they stood transfixed, staring at me in shock. I made no indication that I was in any way affiliated with their target. I was only there to set their business with me.

"And who are you, kid?" the middle man inquired with a smirk.

"I am the one who you apparently have no problem with hurting innocent people to find." I turned slightly to the target without taking my eyes off the enemies. "I would suggest you leave before things get worse." I heard scuffling behind me, signaling that my advice was taken.

"Ah, so you're Len Tao then! My name is Alesh, and we have a most enticing proposition for you!"

"I rather doubt that," I retorted, raising an eyebrow at him. "What do you want?"

Alesh took a step forward and released his spirit control, which would be an unfortunate mistake on his part. "We want you to join us in our quest to finish what Zeke started!"

I gripped my sword tightly, trying hard not to let my temper flare. "You've got to be the daftest person I have ever met. I helped defeat Zeke. What makes you think I would even consider continuing his disasters?"

"You will join us, or else!" Alesh threatened.

"Or what? You'll destroy me? Ha!" I laughed with sarcasm. "Bason!" I let my furyoku swell, and Giant Bason rose from under me, towering over the three men. "You'll get out of here now if you know what's good for you! And I don't ever want to see your faces again!" I shouted defiantly.

The men's looks of confidence and malice suddenly to panic and fear for the newest phase of confrontation. I didn't even have to move another muscle before they took off running deep into the canyon.

"What losers," I muttered to Bason before releasing my spirit control.

I took a few steps towards the clearing entrance where the others would be waiting, but a small voice reached me first.

"Excuse me?" It was the same accented voice I heard earlier…

I turned around quickly and found something I definitely wasn't expecting. "Oh! Y-you're a girl!"


	2. Friend or Foe?

"Well, yes, I am a girl," she replied, her face crumpling slightly in dismay. "Anyway, I just wanted to say thank you for what you did, Len Tao."

"Oh… it was nothing," I said, captured by her deep violet eyes. She tilted her head to the side and I jumped, looking away ashen-faced.

"Well, I must be going. Feel proud of your good deed." Her voice suddenly became strong and willful as she turned to leave. She stumbled violently as she took her first step as if in pain. Gripping the rocks for support, she took another step.

"W-wait! Who are you, really?" I asked the girl, treading cautiously.

She turned back to me and leaned against the rocks. "If I told you, you'll only be disappointed. I said my thanks, now I really must be going," she added with an undecipherable grin.

"Not in that condition you're not," I insisted, folding my arms across my chest. She was clearly showing signs that the battle had been much worse before I got there. She had put up an extremely good resistance, but her pale skin was cut and dirty, her clothing torn, and her silver blue hair in a disheveled mess across her exhausted face.

I moved to reach my hand out to her when another voice came from behind me. "Hey Len! Where are y- oh," Yoh said as he entered the clearing, the others following behind him. "Who's your friend?"

"I-I don't-…" I stuttered.

"No one of importance," the girl said bluntly, pushing off from the cliff side and turning away.

At that point, my frustration and intrigue were beginning to show. "Wait a minute! I just saved your life! The least you can do is tell me who you are!" I insisted loudly.

She moved her glimmering purple eyes to mine, but only sadness and emptiness were prominent. "I promise you, you'll be disappointed."

I was about to give up exasperatedly, but as soon as she took another step, a high shriek rang out from her small body as it collapsed to the ground. With a heavy sigh, I crouched down and put her arm around my shoulder to help her to her feet.

I decided to leave the rest of my questioning for when we found a safer place to settle. The men that were after this girl could possibly be scouting around looking for me, so staying near there long wasn't a good idea.

We had strayed far off the road we were originally traveling, coming not long after to a wide span of forest. I ignored the aching in my muscles from supporting the girl that long, and was relieved when I able to let her down against a thick tree trunk.

"Now, care to tell us who you are?" I demanded, trying to mask my impatience.

Once they had all settled, the others drew their attention to her as well.

"I appreciate your help, but you didn't need to do that," she responded highly, ignoring my inquisition.

"Well what were we supposed to do? Just leave you there all hurt and stuff, while those psychos are probably still out there?" said Trey.

"We're not your enemies," Yoh added. "We can be your friends, if you let us."

She stared up at them, almost confused as to what was going on, almost guilty, as they nodded their concurrence. Her gaze then suddenly returned to her feet, as if she was contemplating her next remark with difficulty. She made it a point to avoid my eyes.

"Alright fine," she said after a moment. "I am Sung, of the Shing Min family."

With a gasp, my head turned back to her sharply. "I beg your pardon?" I said, considering that perhaps I had heard wrong.

"You heard me correctly." She still avoided my eyes. "I come from the Shing Min clan of the north."

"Well the blue hair sure explains that!" Trey put in with a proud grin.

That was certainly not the answer I had expected at all. With that, I understood why she would tell me I would be disappointed; however, disappointment was not amongst the emotions that revelation had brought forward, but it further peaked my interest.

I merely closed my eyes and smiled. "Situations shouldn't allow you to be anywhere near here, then!"

"Ah, so you do know!"

"Uhh… mind telling us what is going on please?" said Rio.

"I think Sung should receive medical attention first before we start asking too many questions," I hinted, looking in Faust's direction. He understood quickly and rushed to attend to the injured girl.

As if this wasn't an obscure turn of events in and of itself, little did I know that this girl would continue to turn events. For better or worse, that information was unclear to me.

**Sung:**

It was certainly a nice surprise to see that Len was not in fact running for the hills, or preparing to launch a full scale war on me. He was continuing to care for my well-being, for that matter. Was this the same Len Tao I had heard stories about from my wretched family?

The tall, thin blonde haired man knelt down next to me and set his case down in the grass. From his professionalism and equipment I could only assume he was a doctor. He worked quickly and silently to clean my wounds, and he performed some strange procedure to heal my hurt foot. I thanked him sincerely before slowly picking myself up.

I took a moment, then, to glance around at the people that surrounded me. They all seemed benevolent and happy. No one was fighting each other, or displaying hostility. It almost seemed too good to be true.

"Well, now that you're all taken care of, maybe we should introduce ourselves!" said the boy with brown hair and orange headphones on his head. "I'm Yoh! And my guardian ghost is Amidamaru!" A magnificent samurai spirit appeared behind him then.

"I'm Faust, the VIII, and this is my sweet Eliza," the doctor said, gesturing to the tall girl in the pink dress.

"My name is Rio!" The accented voice came from the tall man with the funny hair-do wearing a white and purple suit. "Lizard boy here is Tokageroh, my guardian ghost!"

"And I'm Horo Horo, but you can call me Trey! I come from the north too, but probably farther than where you come from!" The boy with blue hair said, pointing at himself and grinning widely. "My guardian ghost is Korey. She's a Minutian!"

A palm sized little spirit appeared on Trey's shoulder, and I couldn't help but smile at her cuteness.

"I'm Jocco! And I'm the greatest comedian to ever enter your presents! Get it! Your presents!?" The boy with goggles and an afro laughed, pretending to tie a bow in the air.

"Congratulations Jocco… You've reached a new level of lame," Len muttered, bemused by Jocco's joke.

"I'm Lyserg Diethel. I come from a family of dowsers, and this is my guardian ghost, Chloe!" The small green haired boy said, raising his arm to show the petite pink fairy.

"And my name is Mortimur, but everyone calls me Morty! But I'm not a Shaman." I had to glance down at the tiny boy standing next to Yoh waving his hand in the air.

"It's truly a pleasure to meet you all, but I must-…"

"Tell us what you're doing here? Yes that sounds like a splendid idea," Len interrupted, his amber eyes locking on mine for the first time since we met.

I was taken aback slightly by his tone. I couldn't tell if he was genuinely interested in hearing my story, if he was building hostility.

"Yes, alright, fine. If you insist. Not to be rude or anything, but if things are going to get nasty, I would rather it be between me and Len." I requested defensively.

Len continued to smirk at me with his arms folded over his chest, as if to accept my implication of a challenge. The others stood stock still, completely bewildered by the sudden change of atmosphere. In the end, the lack of words from Len led them all to walk away from us.

I decided then that it might be a good idea to draw my swords, and did so smoothly and discreetly.

"You won't be needing those," he said in response to his observation.

"Best keep my guard up." A cold glare was beginning to form on my face, but Len's smirk was showing no signs of following through with Tao traditions. "You are here to destroy me now that you know who I am, aren't you?"

His smirked faded a bit at my words. "Don't be absurd. I'm not here to destroy anyone. I honestly don't care which clan you come from. I never was one for keeping up with family feuds."

"Neither am I," I agreed, letting my swords drop to the ground.

"Yes, I figured as much, otherwise you wouldn't be here at all. If my recollection is correct, you are different from the others in your clan."

"I could say the same about you," I grinned.

With our last exchange, the hostility that I foolishly realized I created had lifted, and the way was paved for a new friendship.


	3. Truth

I peered around Len's shoulder and caught Trey's blue spikey head leaning out from behind a tree. Since situations weren't escalating I decided to pay it no attention.

"Well, since matters are settled and we've made our existences known, there's no further need for me to stay," I commented, trying to hide my anxiety.

Len shifted to stand in front of me, preventing me from moving further past him. "And where do you think you'll go? I would suspect you won't get a warm welcome back if your family knew you were here," he concluded.

"If I cared what they thought, do you think I would be here now?" I had to take a moment to consider his question. "I guess… I don't really know where I'll go. Certainly not back there…" A shudder ran down my spine at the thought of walking through the doors to the place I had the misfortune of calling home. Not wanting to burden my new found companions with darkness, I quickly changed the subject. "Why were those fools looking for you anyway?"

Len had caught on to what I did, but he didn't press the subject further. "They were some of Zeke's loyal followers. Even before we defeated him I had his henchmen on my tail, asking me to join them. Bunch of morons…"

Movement in the trees to my left drew my attention, and a glimpse of Rio's purple collar could be seen among the leaves. "The privacy was much appreciated everyone," I said in a distinctly louder voice. Some moments after, the rest of the group emerged from their cover.

"Sorry dudes, we couldn't help it!" Trey confessed, scratching his head sheepishly.

"You said 'if things got nasty' so… we stood by for support!" Yoh chuckled. "So uh, what's this about leaving already? You just got here!"

**Len:**

"I don't want any more trouble for you all. Those men aren't the first to hunt me down, and I'm sure they won't be the last," Sung replied, her face turning ashen.

"That sounds like a better reason that you should stay with us! They can help you!" Morty said, waving his arms at the rest of us.

"Morty's right! We'll help you kick those bad guys' butts!" said Trey.

"For once I agree with Trey," I added, raising an eyebrow at her.

That expression had returned to her face, like we were speaking a foreign language to her, like she didn't understand what was happening. Earlier I had felt like our conversation was getting too personal and sad, so I didn't ask any more questions, but she had given me clues that indicated that more was going on that I didn't already know about the Shing Min clan.

From the moment I had laid eyes on Sung, something had connected me to her instantly. The reason or the how to this was uncertain, but I was determined to find out. Maybe it was something as trivial as me simply saving her, but maybe it was more.

The sheer number of our group forced Sung into submission. Her brow furrowed as she cast her eyes down to the ground, but a tiny "alright" sounded from her lips.

"Len could always use a side kick!" Trey winked at her.

I shot him a piercing glance, my face surely going red. "I do not need a side kick. I do just fine on my own, thank you very much," I snapped at him.

"Alright guys! We should go and meet up with the girls again before they start worrying!" Yoh suggested, waving his hands at us.

We trekked back through the canyon, where Anna, Tamara, and Jun were awaiting our return. Our new member remained silent the entire way, her eyes fixed on the ground ahead of her. I myself had been trailing behind the others, with Sung about ten feet behind me. I felt like I should say something to her, but I didn't know what. Bombarding her and putting her on the defense so early in seemed like an unwise decision.

"And who's that?" Anna demanded vigilantly. She was staring past my shoulder at Sung, who wasn't even aware of what was going on.

After she didn't address Anna's question, Yoh did for her. "Anna, this is Sung. Len saved her from a bunch of bad guys and since she was alone, we invited her to travel with us. She's also a Shaman."

"Alright then," Anna replied without any hesitation.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jun glance questioningly from me to Sung. Jun was typically more on the family tradition side than I was, so I decided to ignore her and continue on my way. I was unsure of how she would react to having a Shing Min as an ally, even though Jun herself had undergone quite the attitude makeover since meeting Yoh. No, it was best to keep it to myself until the right time.

"Uh, Len?" that tiny voice said from behind me. I paused and turned to Sung, who still had her head down and gaze to the ground.

It perplexed me that the strong, confident voice that had come from earlier was gone, and that this soft, almost frightened one had taken its place, like a whole other entity.

"Where exactly are we going?" she asked.

"We're more exploring than going anywhere in particular, really," I explained.

She nodded her understanding, and then didn't say another word after that until we arrived at a small tourist town.

"Well guys and gals," Yoh called as he stopped us in front of a hostel of sorts. "It's getting late and we've travelled a long way, so I say we crash here for the night."

A dull murmur of approvals dispersed over the group, and Yoh led them inside the hostel. Before I moved to head in as well, I quickly glanced over at Sung. Her cautious expression had turned to one of awareness and silent defense.

"Sung?" I said, doubling back to meet her.

"Something doesn't feel right." It shocked me slightly that her strong voice had returned.

Failing to come up with a reply, I swallowed and motioned to the door. "Come on."

She remained there for a moment longer as she studied me, her left hand wrapping around the hilt of one of her swords. With a sigh she consented and followed me inside.

Yoh and the others were at the service desk arranging for the room when we caught up to them. Turned out the town we had arrived in was a shaman town, and the hostel catered specifically to shamans. The clerk said that since there was a large group of us that we could have the rec lounge to ourselves. The offer was gladly accepted and we headed straight there.

Inside was a sizable dining table with an abundance of chairs, a long, L-shaped sofa encroaching an empty fireplace, a dusty bar with stools, and a corner of rocking chairs and a bookcase. It was large enough for everyone to have their own corner, so I decided it might not be so bad. Out of the sliding glass doors at the far wall of the lounge I could see a pool surrounded by thick trees.

The rest of the group took no time at all to rush in and make themselves at home. Sung hung back at the doorway, her arms folded over her chest. She took one look at the glass doors before moving towards them and going outside. I didn't realize I was staring after her absently until Yoh called my name.

"Hey Len? What's with Sung?" he asked with a slight note of concern.

"I don't know," I replied. "I think she's just on edge still from the fight."

"Have you two met before or something?"

"No, never. Our families, however, are well known to each other." I let it go as vaguely as possible. The history between the Taos and the Shing Mins was long and complicated. "I'm going to go check on her."

Yoh nodded before I made my way to the doors. Sliding them open carefully so as not to startle her, I slipped out just as silently. She was standing at the edge of the pool, staring down at her reflection in the gently rippling water.

"What is it?" she inquired, turning to me slowly.

It was hard to believe the girl standing before me was a Shing Min. Everything about her contradicted everything I had been told about them. Then again, I was never one to judge a book by its cover. She stood a noticeable three or four inches shorter than I, yet her mysterious violet eyes managed to capture mine perfectly whenever they connected. Anyone who had never seen her before could easily mistake her small, thin frame as a child and nothing more, but certainly not a shaman of fine skill. The only thing that could depict her as a Shing Min was her glimmering silver blue hair, which was drawn up on one side into a short ponytail held by an ornate Oriental decoration of bells, bows and flowers.

The hard look in her eyes softened slightly as she came to realize it was only me.

"I just wanted to talk to you, that's all," I said genuinely.

She raised an eyebrow doubtfully. "You? Want to talk to me?"

"I meant what I said when I told you I don't care which family you come from. You've already proven that you can be an ally, so the fact that you come from an enemy family means absolutely nothing to me.

She took a step closer to me, and looked deep into my eyes, holding them for a long moment to decide if I was trustworthy or not. She must have come to the conclusion that I was, for a smile flashed across her exhausted face and she released my gaze.

"What is that you know about me?" she asked curiously.

"Probably not enough to make a decent conversation, given that you're one person. The better question would be, 'how much do I know about the Shing Mins?'"

"Alright then. How much do you know about the Shing Mins?"

"More than I would like to."

I thought I saw a spark of hope briefly light up in her face, but I wasn't sure if it was from my response in general, or the note of distaste in my voice, or if it even happened at all.


	4. Brawl on the Hill

"Then tell me," she said quietly.

I took a deep breath and prepared to relay what sinister facts I knew. "Well, my family-…" I was interrupted by a cold cackle coming from somewhere off in the distance. The trees above rustled, then a large, dark figure dropped in front of us.

Sung took a step back in alarm, her hand grasping a sword once again.

"Oh, I'm sorry, was I interrupting something?" a slimy, malicious voice broke the darkness.

I moved in front of Sung before confronting the intruder with a hand on my hip. "Yes you were, actually. The polite thing to do would be to go away now, while you still remain in one piece."

I could see the figure moving towards me slowly, and from behind me I heard the metallic whisper of Sung removing the sword from its sheath.

"Well, I was going to apologize, but that wasn't very nice of you to say," the adversary remarked.

I glanced sideways and realized that we were far away enough from the door that no one inside could see us. I reached behind me and withdrew my own sword. "Who are you and what do you want?"

From the shadows emerged a giant of a man, covered from neck to torso in tattoos, and a nasty smirk on his scarred face. "It's not important who I am, but I did hear you managed to scare off one of my colleagues without even swinging your weapon."

"Yes, I suppose I did…" scowling at the realization it was another one of Zeke's followers.

"Well, I won't frighten that easily, and I brought much more reliable back up. This time, we'll make sure you can't say no.

"Bason," I said, my guardian ghost appearing in full form beside me, "I thought we had made it very clear a long time ago that we will never ever join any group affiliated with Zeke." Bason grunted his agreement and made ready to fight.

"If you value your life, you'll reconsider, and meet me on the hill to the west at midnight with your decision." And with that, he vanished into the darkness again.

"Oh, I'll have a decision alright."

**Sung:**

"Why?" I breathed. I was slightly shaken from what just happened. "Why are all these bad people after you?

Len smirked and brushed it off casually. "Don't you worry. They're just envious of my power."

"A-are you going to face them?"

"Of course I am," I replied. "I need to show them that when I say no, I mean no."

My eyes followed him as he strode back into the lounge. Glancing down at my sword glimmering in the moonlight, I began to feel like this was all my fault.

That thought simmered in my mind even long after I had gone back inside myself, my head hung in shame. I distanced myself from Len for the remainder of the evening, too frightened to interact with him. It seemed like he had not told the others what had happened, for they were all settling in to get some sleep.

I must have fallen asleep myself, for I was startled by a clattering near me. I opened my eyes to a pitch dark room, the only light was the reflection of the moon on Len's blade as he snuck out the glass door. An uneasy stirring erupted in my stomach, a feeling that was urging me to run after him. I got him into this mess so I felt obligated to get him out.

I held my swords in my hands as I stepped into my shoes so as not to make noise. As soon as I was outside with the door closed behind me I took off running in the direction of the hill. I'd waited long enough that I was certain he would already be there. As I got closer to the hill, the sporadic flashes of light indicated I was right. Upon approaching the peak, I hid behind a tree and slid the swords through the leather holder around my hips. I couldn't hear any distinct words, only shouting and the clash of metal on metal.

I peered around the tree trunk to get a glimpse of what I was up against. Len was certainly putting up a valiant fight against what appeared to be an army of three gigantic stone soldiers. All at once, they lunged at Len, even from their considerable distance from him.

"Mei Shao!" I shouted as I performed spirit control with my guardian ghost.

In doing so, I bolted toward the gap between Len and the enemies, swinging my swords at just the last second. A rush of energy exploded on contact with the first one, and before it could knock me off my feet I jumped backwards and landed near Len. The force sent all three of the stone giants flying.

"Sung? What are you doing here?" Len asked in shock.

"I've come to fight with you of course," I replied defiantly.

"You shouldn't be here! Go back now before you get hurt!"

The deafening roar of air being displaced by an enormous stone fist peaked my awareness then, and Len and I dashed out of the way just in time to avoid being crushed.

"Oh look, now your little girlfriend has come to save you! How cute!" said the tattooed man who threatened us earlier.

My landing was less than graceful, and to avoid falling on my face, I slid backwards a short distance, digging one of my swords into the ground. No sooner had I come to a stand-still that another one of the stone giants hurdling towards us. My furyoku flared, inducing my Long Swords Spirit Control. I braced myself for the hit by crossing them in air, standing as strong as I could. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Len dart behind me, positioning himself to make a fatal blow. I waited just long enough for him to get above me before swiping my swords to side to let him pass. There was another blinding flash of light, a rumble swept the hillside, and the rising dust as the giant crashed to the ground. All I could see was the outline of Len in front of me with his glowing spear bared.

"That's one down, and only 2 more to go. Who would like to be annihilated next?" he shouted triumphantly.

"You! That's who!" the tattooed man yelled in response. His stone giant drew back with surprising speed, and swung at me and Len. We weren't able to get out of the way in time, and we were clobbered by huge fist. I groaned in pain as I attempted to pick myself up after smashing to the ground. Len was also getting back to his feet, just a few yards away from me.

"Are you alright?" he called with concern.

"I'm fine!" A blur of motion caught my eye at that moment. "Len look out!"

Regaining my Long Swords Spirit Control quickly, I lunged at the on-coming giant, side-checking it into the cliff side.

"Bason! Rapid Tempo Assault!" Len growled, springing high into the air and aiming his attack the giant I had just downed. He landed in front me, facing the tattooed man. "Looks like we've taken down another one of your little side-kicks. Did you really think you were any match for me? Perhaps once we've soundly defeated you, the rest of you morons will get the point I will not ever be joining you."

The tattooed man let out an unrelenting cackle. "They told me you'd be a difficult one to handle, they certainly weren't kidding. I've watched you fight many times, which is the only reason I'm here. Your power and your guardian ghost will be of great benefit to us, but it would also be a sinister opponent. So if you won't join us, I'm afraid I'll have no choice but to get rid of you all together.

"Heh," Len snickered. "Sorry, but I don't see that happening today."

"We'll see about that!" the tattooed man yelled loudly, preparing his Spirit Control.

The ground under us started to quake violently, and another stone giant, more than twice the size of the last two, rose from the ground underneath him.

"Wow…" I whispered as I watched the scene unfold.

"MOVE!" Len bellowed, grabbing my arm and yanking me out of the path of the super giant.

"What do you think now Len?" the tattooed man shouted down from the super giant's shoulder.

"I think you're still no match for me! Bason! Giant Spirit Control!" He kept his grip on my arm as Bason's power swelled, rising just as high if not higher than the opponent.

Len and I could see eye to eye with the man from Bason's chest plate. Len immediately engaged in full swing combat with me keeping my balance for dear life. The power struggle ended with Len victorious, getting a lucky knock down swing on the giant.

"Hang on Sung," he warned me, turning Bason to face the giant once again. "Let's end this now Bason! Ultimate conquest!"

I shielded my face with my swords as we rushed towards the enemy, hopefully for the last time. There was an earth shaking explosion as Bason made contact with the giant, but in the end, we were the ones left standing. The tattooed man rolled limply down the hillside, his spirit control crushed.

Len and I landed easily on the grass below as he himself released his Spirit Control. He did, however, keep his sword brandished as he approached the man who was sprawled lifeless at the bottom on the hill.

"Let that be a lesson to all of you," he stated, "that my friends and I are not a force to be reckoned with, and I will not hold back."

With that, he turned and walked back towards the hostel, leaving me standing there, staring after him admirably.


	5. May as Well Stay a While

**Len:**

In my anger and frustration I realized I hadn't even waited for Sung to follow me back down the hill. I slowed my steps so she could catch up, but she was still standing at the top of the hill.

"Let's go," I called, trying not to sound so harsh.

She didn't say another word as we headed back. The ruckus from the fight surely woke up the others, and they would be up and wondering where we were. The windows opposite the pool were glowing with light, proving me correct.

"Hey Len!" Yoh said through a yawn as we entered the lounge. "What just happened up there?"

"Nothing really. I was just taking care of some of Zeke's remaining followers. They keep coming after me so I taught them a lesson, with Sung's help."

"Oh… Well, we're glad you're okay. Good night!"

The lights went out again, and within minutes the snores of the others filled the room. I set my sword down on the table next to Sung's and settled into a place on floor for the night. Through the darkness I heard restless stirring coming from beside me.

"Len?" Sung whispered.

"Hm?"

"Can we go outside for a moment?"

I sighed lightly and stood up, coming to the conclusion that were both in the same situation of being unable to sleep.

"Why did you do that?" I asked her once we were outside.

"What?" she said nervously.

"Why did you get involved in the fight?"

Her wide violet eyes shone in the moonlight, but the rest of her face was trembling.

"I-I just wanted to help," she murmured. "It was my fault it happened anyway…"

I frowned slightly at my misunderstanding of her last comment, and I realized her face was riddled with guilt. "How do you figure this is your fault?" My tone was becoming increasingly softer.

"B-because…" she stuttered, turning her head away from me in shame. "Because I was too weak to defeat them on my own! If I wasn't, you wouldn't have had to save me and reveal yourself to them…"

"Well first," I closed my eyes, placing my hands on my hips. "I assure you that you don't have to worry about me. These goons were after me long before the end of the tournament. Second, I would hardly call you 'weak' after what I just saw you do. You were up against three on your own in the first round. Even I couldn't take them all on alone."

"But you did! And you just did it again!" she insisted shrilly, throwing her hand out to the side.

"The first three were nothing but cowards and ran with their tails between their legs at the first sign of confrontation." I blushed slightly at my own modesty. "Besides, if we hadn't have found you, you would still be alone.

Her face suddenly grew dark, and she turned her back on me. "That would be nothing unusual…"

I immediately felt a twinge of guilt that I had possibly just triggered something unpleasant. I grimaced at my blunder then straightened. "Well you're not alone. Not anymore."

We left the hostel early the next morning, and set off through the canyon once more. The topic of the day seemed to be last night's fight, with the other Shaman of the group upset that they weren't there to join in.

"Dude you knew it was gonna happen… you should have told us and we'd come!" Trey whined, his arms folded over his chest.

"Yes, that's exactly why I didn't tell you…" I threw back.

The interrogations then turned to Sung, who kept her head down and was always hesitant to answer.

"What about you, Sung? Didn't you kick any bad guy's butt?" Rio questioned with a smile.

"N-no, not really," she said in her small voice.

"Don't be daft. Of course you did," I corrected.

"Well, it was only one…" Sung's face was turning bright red by that point.

"That you crushed into oblivion."

Trey, Rio, and Jocco began babbling over her, but it was a nice sight, really. Of course the guys had no trouble in adapting to our new group member, in fact they were quite ecstatic about having another girl. It seemed at the beginning of the conversation that Sung was going to duck out at any moment and run the other way, but even through her awkwardness and unfamiliarity with the others, she was opening up to them more and in the end she was smiling. Yoh, Morty and the girls watched them with amusement from the back of the pack.

We travelled on foot for the next two days, camping out in well-sheltered forests during the nights. On the third day, we came to another Shaman establishment much larger than the last one. Anna informed us as we entered this city that this part of the desert was abundant with Shaman establishments.

"Well that's good then!" Yoh commented with a grin. "More people to talk to! I say we find some chow first. A cheeseburger sounds great!"

Finding a diner in this large town was no problem, and not long after we were all gathered around the table. Hunger was never something that bothered me, but after not eating a full meal for 2 days, I was almost ravenous. I sided with Yoh this time and ordered a couple of burgers and a bottle of milk.

"So Sung," Morty said while we waited for the food. "You've barely said a word since we met you! Tell us about yourself!"

She had seated herself between me and Jocco, and seemed rather drawn into herself. "Well, there's not really anything interesting about me… I'm just a Shaman who comes from a very… unsupportive family and trying to become Shaman Queen."

Her hesitation at the word "unsupportive" peaked my interest, even though I knew her statement of uninteresting was a lie. Her family was notorious in our culture, yet here she was, fighting in the Shaman tournament and completely contradicting everything they were known for. I certainly wouldn't deem that uninteresting, but the others didn't know what I knew.

I was growing impatient with not knowing all the answers I sought. I was going to get them that night, whether I had to force them out of her or not. The images of that confident, tenacious face, the sound of that steady, unyielding voice lingered in my mind, and I was longing to observe more if it, so I wanted to find out what it was that was hindering it. If her story was anything like mine, the darkness had to be cast away immediately…

I was also mildly surprised that Jun hadn't already said something to me about Sung. I figured she would have lost her cool by then and waged a full on battle against her. I did keep in mind that Jun and I, being brother and sister often thought similarly, and perhaps she passed Sung's parentage off as I did.

With Rio's help, Yoh found us a rather sophisticated hotel to stay in over night.

"WHAT!?" The young woman at the service desk nearly had a heart attack when Yoh announced his name. "Y-you're Yoh Asakura?! My goodness, you can choose any rooms you want, free of charge!"

I raised my eyebrow, but was not about to turn down free shelter, and nice shelter at that.

"Well," Trey yawned once we picked out the penthouse, "Since it's free, we may as well stay here for a while. The town's big enough that we could easily spend a few days exploring."

"Sure, sounds like fun!" Yoh added as I nodded my agreement. "We should get some sleep first so we can be ready in the morning!"

"I hope you brought your shopping muscles, Yoh, because I'm buying souvenirs," Anna stated.

"Good night everyone!" Rio waved, passing Trey and Jocco who were snickering behind Anna's back.

I chose a corner of the long sofa in the center of the penthouse to lay on. I hoped that nothing would go wrong like the hostel scene in the other town. Sung chose a saucer shaped chair across from me and curled up with her cloak covering her. Not until the room was dark, and everyone had passed out did I silently make my way to her chair. Covering her mouth with my hand so she didn't wake the others, I motioned for her to follow me out to the balcony.

"What's the meaning of this?" she hissed, glaring at me through her silver blue bangs. "Are you kidnapping me now?"

I couldn't help but smile at the anger in her face. I was so used to seeing her shy and nervous that this sudden defensiveness was almost amusing. "No, I'm not kidnapping you. I want some answers and I've been trying to talk to you since that night at the hostel."

Her face relaxed then, scrunching in confusion. "Oh…" she gasped. "Answers about what?"

I moved past her slowly to lean on the bars of the balcony, looking over the town which was still alive with the glow of lights. "I'm having a hard time understanding you."

Her hesitation proved to me that I had baffled her with my sudden interrogation. "What's there to understand?"

"Well, for one, this is the most you've talked the entire time since we met. Haven't we shown you enough that we're your friends, and we don't bite?" I said with a grin.

"W-well yes, but I-" A tint of red played at the tops of her cheeks.

"So what is it? Tell me, what has your family done to you?"


	6. Sung

Her eyes narrowed then, not with anger, but with despair. "The easier question to answer would be 'what haven't they done.' Did you know that our families used to be allies?"

"Yes. A lot has changed since then."

She agreed and stood with her back to the bars. "Your ancestors banished us to the north, and it seems like they brought nothing but hatred and rage with them. They hated shamans and anything to do with them, most especially the Taos. From the day they were banished they focused only on ways to conquer all the shamans with human means. It's silliness really. Their way of life is just terrible."

"Families in our culture aren't exactly known for their compassion and affection."

"Those words aren't even in their vocabulary," she said with a disdainful laugh. "And you know what the sad part is? They haven't even adapted to modern lifestyle. Sure they have the technology but not the respect that comes with the new age. If I hadn't snuck off as much as I did, ugh I would be just as bad as them…"

"I knew something about you had to be different from the rest of the Shing Mins. You're probably the first shaman in Shing Min lineage, am I correct?"

"You're right. My family and I both learned of my Shaman abilities at the same time. I was 7 years old, and everything went downhill from there. They tried to rid my inner shaman from their blood, but it was naïve of them to think they ever could."

I frowned at her last statement, and asked a question I had the feeling I wasn't going to like the answer to. "What do you mean by 'rid your inner Shaman?'"

She scowled and clenched her fists. As much as I felt bad for continuing this conversation, I had to know these answers. I couldn't let another fall down the same path I was once on.

"They… they treated me like a piece of trash under their foot… my own mother hardly considered me her daughter. My brothers were the stars. They were flawless. I was sent to a boarding school that was far enough away from home that I was never able to leave during holidays. It was bad enough that I was a girl, let alone a Shaman…" Anger and bitterness were beginning to play into her tone. "They taught us all from a young age that every person bearing the name Tao was an enemy. We were never to speak of them or to them, and at the slightest form of confrontation we would wage war. I took it upon myself to learn the full story, behind their backs of course. I never believed what they told me, and for good reason. After I did the reading I came to realize your family did the world a favor."

"What I was taught," I decided to cut in to relieve her of painful memories, "was different from what the world probably knows. The popular version of this story is that the Taos ruthlessly defeated the Shing Mins with our 'witchcraft,' which is completely untrue. The leader at the time, I believe his name was Zhang, he led his armed forces into our land and tried to take over. Well, it's common knowledge that shaman warriors can fight circles around humans. They haven't done anything since, and that was centuries ago, so why should I hold a grudge that I wasn't even present for?"

Her innocent face turned to me, and I couldn't help but stare. "You and I think alike," she said. "You're nothing like what I was told about you, not that I believed any of it anyway."

"I've undergone some changes of my own," I replied vaguely. "If your family is full of people who hate Shamans, where did you learn to fight like that?" I changed the subject quickly.

The suspicious expression sneaking across her face told me that she hadn't forgotten about my first statement, and that she would likely come back for it. "Well, I spent a lot of time off on my own, with no friends to please, no dreams to pursue, so I looked for any Shamans who were willing to train me, and I did whatever it took. I came across many, but shamans up in the north aren't the friendliest of people. They are cruel and forceful. There were two trainers that I ended up sticking with. One was skilled in the art of samurai combat, while the other was a thief who fought with daggers. I became proficient in bold types, and that's why I carry two samurai swords.

Everything was beginning to come together then. Her past was nearly identical to mine… "What were your trainers like?" I pressed on.

"They were talented Shaman, I give them that, but they were not good people. Cold, ruthless, unrelenting. The things I had to do to prove myself worthy were atrocious…"

My eyes suddenly fell on her left shoulder, which wasn't covered by a full detached sleeve like her right. Scars creeped their way up her bicep and out from under her sleeveless top. Closing my eyes, I lowered my head, unable to say anything. Remorse and solace was all I could offer, and I didn't even know how to do that. The pieces were beginning to compile in my mind, and all I could hope was that I put them together correctly.

"Did your family ever find out that you were seeing trainers?" I inquired.

"Oh yes," she replied with a glare and a sarcastic laugh. The Shing Mins may have more enemies than they do allies, but the few they have are very faithful to them."

"Was it bad?"

"Oh, it was bad alright… I'd committed treason on the highest count in the court of Shing Min… I was a prisoner once more, and treated as such."

My instinct was telling me by then that I had heard enough for the time being, and that my next arrangement of words would hopefully settle all my suspicions. "We're your friends now. We're all here for you. Do you trust me?"

Her face contorted into deep thought, the same look of confusion she had given the first time we had offered her alliance.

"I-… I guess I do…" she stuttered, looking me straight in the eyes.

A triumphant smirk spread across my face at her reply. It was settled, and my suspicions were proven correct. My earlier thought of her having two different personalities was partially true, but it was more like her true self trying to fight through the person that her dark past had molded her into. If she was anything like myself, the head-strong, no-nonsense side of her would never fully leave, but her quiet, innocent, timid side would blend in more harmoniously after spending more time with us. The concept of trust, friendship, alliance, and safety were all foreign to her, therefore she didn't know how to handle our hospitality.

"I understand it all now," I said quietly, the smile not leaving my lips. "You're right. You and I are a lot alike, and you'll come to find that out soon enough."

"B-but wait," she blurted, turning to face me completely. "You're not going to tell me your story?"

"I think we've had enough darkness for one night, don't you think? If you really want to know it, I will tell you, but later."

Something had sparked inside me, a fire that wanted to tell her everything right then and there. It was an unusual feeling, for I had never felt it particularly necessary to divulge my entire past to anyone. Everyone who may have gotten that sentiment from me already knew it. For the first time I felt like someone would understand me completely and not try to change me, or judge me by my past. Saving this girl possibly just added a whole new facet to my life.

"Do you promise?" she whispered, her innocent side peering out from behind her shell.

"I promise," I said firmly, completely intending to hold fast to that promise. "Sung, really, I meant everything I said. You're not alone, and trust me, I know what it's like to be as alone as you were. You don't have to be afraid of people treating you like trash under their foot. That's not how we do things here. You don't have to be silent. You can speak whenever you want. You're an equal."

A small gasp escaped her lips, and she turned her wide eyes to me. "An equal?"

I nodded, keeping my eyes locked on her so she knew I was telling the truth.

"Th-that's all I ever wanted…"

And then I saw it again: that glimmer of hope I had only seen once before. The gratification from that came not only from knowing that I may have been the reason it returned, but that I was doing the same thing for someone else that my friends had done for me. It was something that I time I probably took for granted, but later came to realize that it in fact saved my life.

"Thanks Len. Really," she breathed, a hint of a smile on her face.

I couldn't help but return that smile, as I made a very prominent decision: I would protect this girl forever, not just because I had already done it once, but because she shared my pain, my darkness, and now my light.


	7. Exploring

**Sung:**

Nothing had ever felt so right in my entire life. It was as if life was giving me another chance, a new opportunity to make amends with my past. I would accept it with open arms, and knowing that I wouldn't be starting alone made everything seem so much better. I had my new found friends that were able to look past my lineage and take me for who I was, and treat me like one of their one. There was also this boy standing beside me, who would remain at my side forever, even though I didn't know it at the time.

A light, wispy breeze drifted in from the hillside then, causing me to shiver and wrap my arms around my chest, and Len didn't even flinch.

"Come on. Let's get some rest," he said, heading towards the door.

The next day, Trey woke us all up bright and early to start exploring the shaman city.

"We get that you're excited Trey but do you really have to be so loud?" Len grumbled as he sat up.

"Come on you guys! We got sites to see!" he exclaimed, throwing his fist into the air.

"Yeah Trey… pipe down! Some of us are trying to sleep," Morty said through a yawn.

The disgruntled mumbles echoed throughout the group as they dragged their sleepy selves up and about, while I quietly slipped on my shoes and tied up my hair.

After the long talk with Len last night, I felt more adventurous, and awake to the world. His help didn't stop at the conversation, for the way his eyes briefly caught mine and made me blush was like him reaching into my shell to drag me out. He said I had nothing to be afraid of, and I wanted to test that.

Once everyone had gathered up their things, we left the penthouse to head downstairs and grab jam filled dumplings before setting out on the town. The day was just as glorious at the last, with the sun hovering full and bright over the flat desert horizon. Not a cloud was in sight, probably because the wind gently blew them all away in the small hours of dawn.

Truth be told, I had never seen a town such as this in my life, although my traveling excursions were not extensive. The buildings didn't reach the sky like I had seen in books, but there were many of them, all neatly placed around the wide streets. They had much to offer, from restaurants and cafes to clothing stores and pawn shops. There were likely to be jewelry stores, which I secretly wanted to see the most, along with some nice parks.

"Come on Sung! We're leaving!" Rio called to me. I'd spaced out and was staring down the road from which we had come the night before.

A few people were beginning to wander sleepily down the sidewalks They all seemed to be wearing Oracle Bells still, even though the Shaman Tournament was suspended indefinitely.

"I say we hit all the souvenir shops first!" Trey suggested eagerly, turning to Rio.

"Well, I think we should at least get a map and plan our route first!" he offered.

"Rio does have a point there!" Yoh smiled.

"That's no fun! The whole idea was to explore and discover things as we went!" said Jocco. "What do you think Len?"

"Hm," he replied, folding his arms over his chest. "I'll choose to stay completely neutral in the matter."

They'd settled their quarrel between the males, and after a few minutes we set off to find a news stand and a map. I personally didn't mind either way what they chose to do. I just wanted to see all the sites worthy of seeing.

Trey and Jocco took the lead at the front of the group, while Yoh, Morty, Lyserg and Rio toddled along behind them. I kept close to Len, and the four other girls, Anna, Tamara, Pilika and Jun followed behind us. It was strange for me to be traveling in such a large group, as I was used to going everywhere on my own. I felt somewhat safer after considering that thought, since all these people here were powerful, and looked out for each other. They spoke to me with respect and dignity and made no acts of hostility.

Once we had found a map and some water bottles, we discovered that there was a full sized stadium in this town; probably where Shaman fights could be held.

"Hm, now that sounds like something worth checking out," Len stated with an eager grin.

Trey shouted his agreement, but Yoh and Jocco weren't so sure.

"You think anyone will be there?" Yoh pondered.

"I don't think it's a good idea, whether we wanted to fight or not," Jocco started. "We just got here, so we don't want to get into the middle of any trouble."

"And what makes you think there'll be trouble?" Len frowned.

"Just a bad feeling I guess…?"

"I don't think we have anything like that to worry about Jocco!" Yoh assured him with a smile. "Why don't we go check it out and see if anything's happening over there?"

I silently gave my agreement with the others, and after choosing the quickest route, we trouped to the southern side of the city.

The stadium was massive: almost the same size as the one in Dobie Village. A place like that must always have been crawling with Shaman. As we approached the doors, I learned that I was indeed correct. Inside it was sectioned off into 4 different parts, so more than one fight could take place. A team of at least five shamans against another would be required to use the entire span. The vast stretch of bleachers wasn't full, but each section contained spectators cheering their favorite contestants on. There were even referees to keep the fights in check.

"Aw cool!" Trey exclaimed, rushing to the edge of the arena.

Directly ahead, a fight between a teenage girl and what was probably her father was taking place. It wasn't easy to mistake it for a friendly banter fight, for both of them were laughing and taking playful swings at each other. At the other end of the arena, however, a much more intense fight was going on. I squinted slightly to get a closer look, my heart rate increasing as I realized the stone giants seemed familiar.

"Len, look," I whispered, nudging him lightly with my elbow. "Those are the guys who attacked us at the hostel…"

He turned his head to the right discreetly and scowled. "So they are… No matter. They would be stupid to try and pick another fight with us. Mind you, it wasn't smart to pick a fight with me in the first place."

There was no denying that was very true, but I couldn't help but feel like Len was letting his guard down too much. That group struck me as the type who would stop at absolutely nothing to get what they wanted, and it was obvious they wanted him. I'd come to reason with what Len had said the previous night, but I still felt obligated to follow through with the whole ordeal, and help him where I could, in return for him helping me.

I fell to silence, my eyes darting nervously between Len and the group at the far side of the stadium while the rest of the boys ooh'd and awe'd at the fight in front of them. Len merely stood there, not looking at anything in particular, and his stillness almost made me question whether or not he was even breathing. His unmoving amber eyes were shrouded in shadow by his deep, deep violet hair.

Then they darted suddenly to the right again as a huge explosion rumbled through the entire stadium, in fact everyone stopped to look at what happened. The largest of the stone giants was standing over the man sprawled on the ground, with the same tattooed man that had attacked Len and me standing on its shoulder.

"Do you think he's…?" I whispered, my eyes drawn to the scene.

"Let's go!" Len said loudly, brandishing his sword.

But we were too late. Just as we made to spring into the arena, the giant fist slashed through the air with another earth trembling explosion to follow. The others behind me gasped while Len froze in his tracks.

"Did he just…" Jocco trailed off.

"Yeah dude… he just…" Trey added.

"Destroyed that guy…" Yoh finished.

Len's fists clenched at his sides as he witnessed what was taking place. I feared he would try to challenge the tattooed man. All of us were defenseless, for no one thought to bring weapons; not that any of us planned on fighting.

"What are we going to do?" I asked him.

"Nothing," he said firmly. "We will pay them no attention."

"So much for the referees!" Rio said, shaking his head.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the man atop the giant stone soldier turn to us and pause. Incidentally, my heart began to race, likely because he discovered it was us.

"Great…" Len scoffed beside me.

The rumbling footsteps told me that he had in fact spotted us, and was then coming over to challenge us. Len turned to face the man head on, not fazed in the least by his presence.

It was also then that I realized something: the persistence that Len Tao carried was overwhelming. He was faced with an enemy that he knew had vicious power, and here he was, standing there as if an old buddy was coming to greet him. It was as if he had no fear, no doubt in anything at all. I knew this couldn't be totally true, but his confidence and courage was like nothing I'd ever seen before. I could bet that he had seen worse danger than this.

"Well well well. Look who it is," the tattooed man drawled as he approached us.

"What is it that you want this time? Did I not teach you a good enough lesson the last time we fought?" Len retorted with complete bemusement.

"Hah! Hardly! You know I'm coming back for you right?" the tattooed man smirked.

"Fine. You'll only be humiliated again, and trust me, I have no opposition to doing it a second time around."

"Do you take me for a fool, Tao? No, things are going to be very different when next we meet." By then, the man had crouched down so far that his face was an inch from Len's, but Len didn't budge. "The name's Kalot. Remember that!" he added as he stalked away.

A grin spread across Len's face as he watched the man leave. "Oh… I look very much forward to it!"

"What was that all about?" Yoh asked curiously, stepping closer to Len and me.

"Just a group of Zeke-wannabes who have no idea what they're getting into!"

"Is he the same one that attacked you and Sung before?" said Jocco.

Len nodded then moved to sit down in the bleachers. "Now, let's watch some semi decent fights!"

The others had to double-take at his calmness, but didn't question him any further as they followed suit.

There was no doubt in my mind that he was determined to wage this war. I was equally as determined to fight it with him. I had spent so many years fighting my own wars alone that I couldn't possibly let someone else meet the same fate, now that I had true friends. We all needed to have someone at our sides to fight battles, whether physically, morally, or emotionally. This whole group was living proof of that, for every one of them would be right there for another when the time arose. This boy had saved me in so many ways, and as determined as he was to fight this sinister opponent, I was determined to repay my debts to him.


	8. Arena Fight

**Author's Note: Wow, I received some really lovely reviews and it inspired me to write lots more! Thank you so much for your kind words! I just want to add though, that I have been reading the Shaman King manga a lot lately, so I apologize if I have flopped the English names with the manga names. I think in think chapter I have already used "Ren" instead of "Len" which is what I started with. I don't mind hearing about my flops in reviews, so I can fix it if need be! :3 I also want to let you all know that I will be changing the title of the story with the release of the next chapter to "Legend of the Ishikara" since I know have a clear path that I want the story to go in! Thanks again readers!**

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**Len:**

The others were all keeping their eye on Sung and me. I knew they were. Those fools with the oversized boulders of furyoku were toying with me, and just their very presence was beginning to anger me. There were certain parts of my past, and myself in general that I would rather leave behind forever, and all those goons were doing was dangling it in my face once more. Some nerve they had… challenging me like that after the world has seen what I can do…

I felt guilty enough as it was that Sung had been unfortunately dragged into this mess, and now the others too. Of course I knew that they would be there should I ever need their support, but I was never one to ask for help, and I believed that my fights should remain my own. Nothing would pain me more than to see my friends in danger for something that had nothing to do with them.

As the morning drew later, more and more shamans entered the arena for a chance to display their skills. Trey was the only one who had taken a weapon with him, and once confronted by a bloated windbag of a fighter, he had no hesitation in bounding into the arena after him. I didn't think he would have been able to do it, but Trey wiped the floor with his opponent in only 10 minutes.

"Ha! I'd like to see any of you beat that record!" he boasted as he replaced his snowboard on his back.

"Oh please!" Rio exclaimed, waving his hand arrogantly. "Tokageroh and I could have taken him in 9 minutes!"

"Ah, Amidamaru and I could have finished him in 5!" Yoh stepped in.

"They'd be no problem for Chloe and me!" Lyserg added smugly.

I sat there silently, staring at the arena walls and listened to my comrades argue about who was the better shaman: something that wasn't uncommon.

"Come on, Len, what's got your shorts in such a knot that you're not even gonna stick your nose in with some 'I would have done it better!' comment?" Trey interrogated, mimicking my accent.

I snapped out of my contemplative state momentarily to remark with, "well I could have…"

"Chyeah right!" Jocco scoffed, turning to Sung. "What about you?"

The girl raised her eyebrow at him bemusedly. "Mei Shao and I could show you all how it's done, if only I had my swords," she replied.

"Well then, that settles it!" Jocco stated. "We'll come back tomorrow and see who can beat their opponents the fastest!"

At first the proposition seemed so ludicrous to me that I almost rolled my eyes at it, but once I gave it more thought, it seemed like a great idea, and a prime opportunity for me to show all of them up, including the stone flunkies.

I fell silent once more as the other boys started babbling rambunctiously about Jocco's suggestion, and how each of them were stronger than the other. Normally that was a conversation I would have all too well participated in, but I was too focussed on my plans to be rid of Zeke's followers. Even Sung pitched into that verbal fight, although I suspected she was provoked.

"Alright guys! Let's go get some grub!" Morty said loudly over the squawking shamans.

Consent was imminent, and immediately we all marched out of the stadium and began the search for a place to eat. The remainder of the day went much the same, with each of us thinking of something to look for in this vast shaman town. Yoh wanted to scout all the cheeseburger stands he could, Trey was looking for a craft vendor to support, Rio was in search of a relaxing lounge, and Jocco just wanted a place to display his so-called "comedy," while Faust was itching for any sign of a pharmacy, and Lyserg wished to hit all the book shops. Of course there was no way we could scavenge the entire town for all our desires in one day, but a valiant effort was put forth.

As I should have expected, Sung stayed quiet the whole time, merely taking in what was going on around her with something one might consider curiosity. Her eyes weren't glued the ground like they had been the first day or two, and she was indulging us with conversation more than usual. It was a nice change, really, but alongside all that, I could feel her sideways glances on me as if she was worried that I would suddenly implode.

"Okay guys…" Yoh groaned as we made way through the town. "I'm tired of all this walking! What's say we call it a day and head back to the hotel?"

Night was beginning to set across the establishment, and already the swarms of shamans that had been present in the morning were thinned out, and the sun was making its nest in the craggy canyon horizon, casting shadow across the buildings. There was something about the cool, still air of the evening that beckoned to me to keep going, even though I knew it was a terrible idea.

"I agree. There's still a lot to see tomorrow, so we should get some rest," Faust added thoughtfully.

With the help of the map, we navigated our way back to the hotel. Anna, Jun, Tamara, and Pilika were all waiting for us, and it seemed they had gone off on an adventure of their own, for they each had multiple, colorful shopping bags in their hands. They still had enough energy left to tell us all about the bags and dresses and shoes they saw while shopping, the rest of us wanted nothing more than to hit the pillows.

Before we all fell asleep, it was agreed by all that first thing's first, we head to the arena where the selected victim would have their first fight in our little contest. The victim was chosen the next morning once we arrived at the stadium.

"Me?" Sung grimaced, folding her arms across her chest.

"Well yeah! Since Len's the only one who's seen you fight, you get to go first!" Trey smirked, pushing her towards the edge of the enclosure. Her eyes darted anxiously to mine as if to beg for back up.

"Yes, good idea," I agreed with a remorseless grin. "You can further prove my point that you're just as potent as the rest of us."

Her wide eyes narrowed into a glare, and she knew she was over ruled. "Fine," she snapped, turning her back to us and placing her hand on the gate. "May as well set the bar high early on."

"So kids," a large, booming voice rumbled from the other side of the arena closest to us. "If my ears don't deceive me, it seems you're looking for an opponent!"

The man opposite Sung was indeed a suitable challenger. He stood nearly 7 feet tall, and must have weighed over 300 pounds. The spirit accompanying this giant was also appropriately placed. It resembled a colossal deformed reptile of sinister sorts.

Suitable challenger or not, there was something about him that gave me a bad vibe. My gaze happened to stray across the rows of spectators behind him, and they all bore the same brutish build, almost like a gang. I wasn't going to stop Sung from fighting, but I immediately began to question the virtue in which this battle would be carried out.

"Yes, I am," Sung replied firmly, and her unwavering confidence in front of this opponent shocked me greatly.

"Well, you got one now! Name's Gills. And who might you be?" The man's slippery voice was further reinforcing the already bad notion given off by him.

"My name is Sung," she answered, drawing her swords elegantly. "And I'm sure you won't be smiling like that when you're defeated by this 'kid.'"

Mei Shao, the magnificent Chinese general that could give Bason a good run for his money appeared in full form behind her then. If one didn't know any better, it would be painfully apparent that Mei Shao, no matter how ferocious and extravagant looking he was, was no match for the monster opposite him; however, I did know better, and felt confident that Sung would come out victorious in this fight.

The last verbal exchanges were lost in the sound of each side creating their Oversoul. Sung's Oversoul comprised of her two swords, but it wasn't like Yoh's double medium. The spiritual power engulfed both swords and transformed them into longer ones, and if the need arose, she would combine them with her furyoku to make one giant one. Gills' Oversoul was bound to the steel claws on his hands, and surrounded him completely with spiritual energy, which solidified my theory that Sung would be the winner. His Oversoul was nothing but show and no bite.

The fight started immediately, with Sung daringly launching herself to make the first strike. Gills was able to block it, but his oversoul was causing him to be much slower in movement than Sung, so her comeback was much more successful. She'd struck through his furyoku shield and sent him flying.

The next plays of the battle unfolded, and the more I observed the more I came to realize that this would be a fight of speed and brute strength. It was true that if circumstances allowed it, that Gills could crush Sung in one go, that is, if he could move fast enough to catch her. Sung was significantly smaller than he, and her Oversoul didn't weigh her down, therefore she had the advantage. Gills would charge at her full force from a rather large distance, and she would dart to the side and dodge it, and finish off her play by coming around from the side and swiping him into the enclosure.

From what I could see, Sung had broken Gills' Oversoul twice in the first 5 minutes of battle. I had to assume from the large for it took that he used a lot of furyoku to make it, and consequently had a lot. Still, I was not concerned about it.

"So Ren, who's your money on?" I jumped slightly as Trey spoke loudly in my ear.

The others had moved into the bleachers behind me, while I stayed at the edge of the enclosure so I could better watch the moves of the fight.

"Well Sung of course," I retorted, refraining from elbowing him in the ribs.

"Hehe, you've got the hubbas for her, don't you?" The sly grin spread across his ridiculous face.

" Sit down and watch the fight…" I snapped at him.

I returned my attention to the brawl just in time to see Sung get smacked out of the air by Gills' giant clawed fist. She rolled backwards about 20 feet, but still sprung right back up. It must have just been a really good fluke, but he'd severed her Oversoul.

"Whoa, he got her!" I breathed incredulously.

"Still think she's gonna win?" Trey questioned, that sly grin still stuck on his face.

"Have you not been paying attention?" My temper was being to rise at his stupidity. "He may have gotten in a lucky shot on Sung, but he's much too slow to defeat her. He only looks formidable because of that balloon of furyoku he's hiding behind…"

The stadium rumbled as a loud explosion erupted from the center of the arena. A huge, black dust cloud had risen which shrouded Sung and Gills. From our side, we couldn't see anything that was going on, but the creepy gang of spectators on the other side were all whooping and cheering obnoxiously. Flashes of light emitted sporadically from the dust cloud, and from the sudden silence of Gills' supporters I could only assume that Sung had won another clash of Oversoul.

There came a sudden burst of blue-white light, and Sung streaked through the air with her Giant Sword Oversoul bared. She landed gracefully 30 feet away from our side of the enclosure, but did not release it. The dust soon settled to reveal Gills face down on the ground, his Oversoul and his furyoku completely depleted.

"Hm. What did I tell you?" I said smugly to Trey as the others cheered her victory.

Unfortunately, it didn't end there. A raucous commotion could be heard from the other side of the arena as the opposing supported poured out from the stands and into the arena.


	9. Confrontation

**Author's Note: I'm so sorry readers! I'm realizing more and more how this is going the direction of a really bad anime/manga flop ;~; if you think I should fix it, please let me know and I will do so! By the way, the title change is taking place! **

* * *

Oversouls flared and the decibels of shouting increased. I impulsively took a step forward only to be blocked by the arena enclosure. I was right after all to question the morality of the fight. It seemed like merely an excuse for Gills' supporters to trigger an all-out riot after his defeat, which was certainly not the traditional arena rule of fair fighting.

"Whoa, what's going on?" Ryu said as he stepped up the enclosure, his wooden sword in hand.

I brandished my own sword and prepared to vault over the enclosure. "I knew it from the beginning. There was nothing honest about these bastards. They just wanted an excuse to cause a scene, and now they're going to get it!"

There was about fifteen or so of those brutes bearing down rapidly on Sung, and as I flew over the enclosure I knew there was no way I would get to them in time. She was strong and able to fend for herself, but not against that many. I could only hope that the others had followed my lead.

The one leading the enraged stampede had drawn back and was about to release his fatal blow. I was still about 20 feet away from Sung, and all I could do was use a burst of furyoku to shield myself and keep my feet firmly on the ground.

"Damn…" I spat as the dust began to settle, but I was astounded to see what was before my eyes.

Sung was still standing, and the gang of supporters was just picking themselves back up. Her oversoul had transformed into a huge energy shield, but that's not what had surprised me the most. It was her face. Words couldn't describe the viciousness and defiance that seeped from her glare. Her eyes narrowed, and seemed as if their violet shade had darkened to black. Was this the same Sung standing there, defying everything and everyone against her with all she had?

I didn't waste another moment in lessening my own oversoul and getting ready to fight. The rush behind me could only indicate the others had bounded over the arena enclosure to aid us.

"Are you children done yet?" Her voice, though trying to be firm, was beginning to falter, probably a sign of fatigue caused by furyoku exhaustion. While she had squarely won the official fight, it was only a matter of time before her power was depleted completely. That shield oversoul more than likely used a large amount.

I wasn't going to stop her, but I would stand by her side and finish them off if necessary. Yoh, Ryu, Trey, Lyserg, Jocco, and Faust were also there to back her up.

"Come on, boys. Let's show these jerks just what they've gotten themselves into!" I was nearly alarmed by the malicious grin that spread across her face then, as she merged her oversoul back to her Long Swords.

"Yes Bason, let's!" Immediately, I leapt into the air with my oversoul drawn, not even bothering to waste the furyoku it would talk to create Giant Bason. The enemies were still dazed from the previous hit, and in mid-air I unleashed Rapid Tempo on them. Trey promptly froze them all, then Sung smashed the ice with her Twin Strike before Yoh and the others delivered the final attacks.

"Hmph, what a joke!" I mused, landing next to Sung. "I only got one attack in."

"Ah well! They'll think twice before messing with us again!" Yoh stated as he sheathed his sword. "I say we get out of here before we cause any more trouble!"

I had half a mind at that point to say no and search for an opponent of my own, before I realized that I had used up a portion of my furyoku and lost interest in the idea of going into another battle handicapped.

I glanced over at Sung, who hadn't moved from her stance at all. "Whoa…" she sighed, swaying slightly before dropping to her knees. I quickly caught her by her arm before she hit the ground.

**Sung:**

"Are you okay?" Ren said in a hushed voice as he grabbed my arm.

"Oh yes…" I panted, but my vision was blurring in and out and my chest hurt immensely.

He placed my arm around his broad shoulders, supporting me as he helped me to my feet. "You need to rest."

A feeble nod of my head was all I could muster before I blacked out completely. When I came to again, I could barely see the hotel at the end of the road we were headed down. Ren had hoisted me onto his back, and was somehow still managing to keep up with the others, who were all chatting lightly about the day's events.

"Ren?" My voice was a hoarse whisper.

He turned his head towards mine at the sound of my voice, and the closeness of his amber eyes caught my breath momentarily.

"Ah, you're back," he replied, a hint of a smile playing at his lips.

My head dropped back down onto his shoulder as he continued walking. My body was sore and felt like it weighed a ton. The others had turned back to us and were greeting me kindly.

"Are you feeling better now?" asked Ryu.

"You kicked some serious butt out there Sung!" Trey exclaimed, giving me the thumbs up.

"Yeah! You really took care of those guys!" Yoh seconded.

"I'll have to agree," Ren put in. "That display of oversoul morphing was really quite something."

"Are they gone now?" I asked wearily.

"Long gone! And I don't think we'll be seeing them again anytime soon!" Yoh answered with a grin.

I should have expected that he would be mistaken, for three familiar figured emerged onto the street from the shadows of the surrounding buildings.

"Oy, you there!" said the middle one.

"Ergh, not you again…" Ren growled, his eyes closing in frustration. "I thought I told you I didn't want to see your ugly faces ever again, Alesh!"

"At least your memory somewhat makes up for your lack of hospitality!" the man in front of us sneered.

"Give me one good reason to be 'hospitable' to you losers after you hurt my friend?" Ren countered. "Now get out of my way. I don't want to be in your presence any longer." He moved to push past Alesh and his cronies but they blocked his way. "I'm warning you…"

"Easy there boy! We just came to deliver a message to you!" said Alesh. "Our leader was present at your fight this morning. He said your skills are quite impressive, and he will be approaching you soon to test them for himself, so I would prepare if I were you!"

Alesh then stepped aside, and Ren wasted no time in getting by; however, he stopped behind them all briefly enough to say these words: "You should be the ones preparing."

"Tch! Those guys will be no problem for all of us!" Trey stated eagerly once we got back to the hotel.

Ren set me down gently on the sofa. He wasn't even giving anymore thought to the confrontation in the street, but the more the other boys babbled about it, the angrier he became.

"Enough!" he finally screamed at them all, with an intolerant glare.

They all froze in mid-sentence and turned to stare at him dumbfounded. Even I flinched slightly at his sudden outburst.

"Uh… what's up Ren?" Yoh questioned cautiously.

He didn't even bother with a reply before stalking out of the room.

A twinge of guilt pulled at me as I watched after his retreating back. He had never come across to me as someone who would be that distressed by a challenge. Although, Tao Ren was someone who wasn't easy to read in general, and I always had a hard time gauging the meanings to his reactions.

The memories of the past nights spent with him flickered into my mind. He had been nothing but interested in everything I had to say about my past, and that meant a lot to me, to have someone who was genuinely sincere. Outwardly, he portrayed himself as tough, confident, and mature, but what about inside? What was his story?

_If you want to know it, I'll tell you._

My thoughts led me to rise and follow him. I wasn't afraid, or even nervous. He said I could trust him, and my own experiences would lead me to believe that humans didn't utter that statement lightly.

"Ren?" I called as I slowly edged around the corner of the building.

The sun was high about the other side, which cast long, cool shadows in the clearning. Ren was sitting on a bench on the far end of the yard's enclosure with his back to me. Bason was hovering close to his side. He turned his head slightly to acknowledge my presence, and allowed me to approach him with no objection.

"There's something bothering you, isn't there?" I asked curiously. I carefully past in front of him and took my seat at his left side.

"What do you care?" he scoffed.

"Why wouldn't I care? We're friends, after all?"

He heaved a sigh, folding his hands tightly in his lap. "They take me for a weak, defenseless child! My whole life has been full of nothing but doubters for as long as I can remember! That's why I didn't wish to return home immediately. My friends don't doubt me!"

"Then why should anyone else's opinion matter? You seem to know exactly where you stand." If that wasn't the full truth, then what else could be?

"Yes, I do. I am the leader of the Tao family, though my path to be here wasn't easy. My superiors all doubted me, until I showed them that I am worthy!"

"Tell me all about it," I demanded, looking him square in the eyes. "I told you my story, now I want to hear yours. Like you promised."

His hesitation was jarring, and provoked me to question what it was I had just asked of him; however, I persevered in getting the information so I, like he did for me, could share his darkness.


	10. About Ren

Ren's fists clenched over his knees as he prepared to tell his tale. This was one of the few instances where I could say I was genuinely interested. I had gained friends, and I was ready with open arms to learn all I could about them. This was also an ideal opportunity for me to discover why I had felt like I had a deeper connection with Ren since the moment I met him.

"I'm not looking for a pity party, let me just settle that right now," he injected defensively.

"I-I never thought you were… I just want to get to know you, is all…" I shied away from his glance, slightly startled by his reaction.

His contemplative silence lingered only a moment more, then was put aside to make way for the story. "It seems both of our families hold grudges against the past, don't they? Before all this modernization, the Taos were one of the most powerful clans to rule the land. It was their Shaman abilities that protected everyone, that provided for their day to day lives, and kept everything settled. Their power was legendary, unchallenged, and unquestioned. That is, until your family brought in the revolution and had them all prosecuted. Of course, the war was waged, and the Taos came out victorious, but things would never be the same after.

I had to admit to myself at that point that I was ashamed of my family's history. Their arrogance and naivety knew no boundaries, and even to this day were bringing misfortune to others.

"Just a minority of humans who believed they were better than everyone else…" Ren scoffed. "They weren't the only ones. Soon all the human clans had turned their backs on the Taos and they were as good as exiled."

"That's terrible…" I sighed, hunching my shoulders forward.

"My Uncle hates everything about what happened to our ancestors," he nodded in agreement.

"I can't say I blame him…"

"Well I can!" His fists clenched tighter more, and resentment hung on to his every syllable. "He carried his hatred and anger on his back, and everyone else suffered for it. Me, my sister Jun, and even my mother. He forced his ideas on us like it was the meaning of the whole world. 'Humans are at fault for everything,' 'humans are vile and disgusting creatures,' "we were made to rule them.'"

"Is that why you entered the Shaman Fight?" I asked impulsively, immediately regretting my action.

"Originally, yes." His calm reaction startled me greatly. "I was taught from a young age that I must become Shaman King at all costs, to restore my family's glory. I must 'destroy or be destroyed,' and nothing should get in my way. Failure was simply not an option. I didn't care what I did to get what I wanted, even if it meant… hurting people…"

My eyes moved around his sharp, handsome face comprehensively. The back story that he was telling me put me off only slightly. None of the things he said matched with the Ren I knew then. I was compelled to know more.

"So what changed that for you?"

The expression that appeared on his face read "How did you know?" His eyes reverted from mine for a short moment, then fell upon the lightly waving branches that were hanging in front of us. "It was… Yoh!" he continued, and he sounded almost surprised by his own response. "After he defeated my sister and Pai Long, I began to question the methods my uncle had instilled in us for all those years. Yoh was always so carefree and joked about everything, and I could never understand why he won every time, against me or my sister. I thought it ridiculous at the time, but he has this absurd idea that spirits were friends to shamans and had more to offer than just power. My family believed he was weak because of this, and commanded me to destroy him before the tournament started."

"How wrong they were!" I added with a small grin.

"How wrong indeed," he agreed. "My uncle was displeased that I had not defeated Yoh, and that he was somehow turning me 'soft,' so my very life was riding on the last match of the preliminary round, in which Yoh was my opponent. During that fight I learned that it was not my strength alone that would carry me through. No, it was my spirit as well. My hatred and anger held me back from seeing that."

"Who won that fight?"

Ren grinned thoughtfully at my latest inquiry. "The fight ended in a draw, actually. I spent the night with Yoh and his friends after that match was over. While I was there, I came to some vital revelations." He paused again to deliberate on his next words.

I had never imagined that another human being could make me feel such a way as I was with Ren. I'd never cared to look deeper into the soul of another, and hearing these stories from him made me feel whole, and worthy of something. It seemed like what he was telling me wasn't something that he would share with just anyone, so it was a privilege for me to be hearing it.

"And what were they?" I asked after he remained silent for longer than usual.

"Ah… it's hard to explain. Let's just say, I decided that night that everything my uncle taught me was wrong, and that it was time for me to walk my own path. I left with Bason to confront my uncle, but he captured me, along with Jun. He was determined to set us both back on the course he had started, but I wasn't going to go down without a fight. And then something amazing happened… he came to save us! He and the others put their own lives on the line to save ours. My uncle was completely appalled, but in the end he was no match for them. Their friendships won."

"But also faith, right?" I said quietly.

"Hn, yes. They had faith in me, each other. And that's where the cycle of Tao treachery ended. I had broken free of my uncle's hold, and even helped him let go. He had fallen slave to our past and was unable to know anything else. I'm sure he was thoroughly embarrassed that it took a group of kids to knock some sense into him… He finally accepted the fact that I am my own person, and who or what I followed did not dictate my worthiness as heir to the Tao family. What happened in the past has nothing to do with me, so why should I suffer for it? I'm capable of moving forward and making decisions on my own."

"You're right," I concurred. "It takes a lot of courage to do what you did. I see it in you every day. You are your own man.

"I am, but I am still rightful leader of the Tao family." He was confident and proud in the fact that he knew where he stood.

"I admire that," I thought out loud. "Thank you, Ren."

His head turned towards me sharply. "What for?" he asked with a puzzled expression.

"For sharing this with me," I replied softly. "I can't imagine it would be easy for you, but I commend you for your resilience. You said I was hard to understand, well, you're much the same!"

His cheeked flushed a subtle shade of pink, and he didn't even try to deny it. "I'll have you know I don't hand out trust easily," he insisted.

I nodded my understanding before releasing his gaze. I was at a loss as to what to say next. I was delighted that he was willing to open up to me, which sparked a new longing inside of me. I'd spent so many of my years with people who blocked themselves out of the world, never telling anyone who they truly were, what they wanted, that I'd rarely entertained the thought of trying to get to know anyone.

So this was what having friends felt like…

**Ren:**

It was strangely gratifying, getting all that off of my chest. I had lapsed into a moment of self-realization which brought to light how much better things had become. I wasn't ashamed to look back on my less-than-desirable past, for it was what made me who I was then. The images would never leave my mind, but would remain strung up, like a mural of time always making way for new images.

There was still so much more that I wanted to say to her, but I didn't know how. I'd never had anyone other than my sister to divulge personal thoughts to. The others surely wouldn't understand, even if they were my closest friends.

This girl… her spirit was like an open, empty book that one could write their deepest contemplations in without fear of judgement or loss, a limitless resource that could be tapped into at any time or any place, and all the contents would be right there, untouched and completely safe. With each word that was added to that book, more of her own would appear before one's eyes if one looked deep enough. It was a mystery to me, one that I intended to solve completely, and hold close.

The low-hanging branches of the trees swayed carelessly as the breeze snatched at them. The hotel in which we were staying did in fact have a lot to offer on its own. I'd read a map in the suite, and there appeared to be a nice hot spring at the rear of the building. I felt Sung's eyes still on me, but I was not uncomfortable from it. I usually preferred to stay near the back of the group on my own, but being near her felt nice.

Mei Shao appeared in spirit ball form suddenly, which tore my gaze away from the sea of teal green leaves in front of me.

"Miss Sung, the others are becoming concerned of your whereabouts," he said dutifully.

"Hm, I suppose we should head back inside?" Sung glanced in my direction questioningly.

"Alright," I conceded, standing up and offering her my hand.

"What were you two doing out there for so long?" Trey greeted us obnoxiously as we entered the suite.

I slipped out of my shoes then turned to face him. "None of your business!" I snapped.

"Aha… hey guys!" Yoh interrupted wearily. "There's a hot spring really close to here! I say we grab some grub then check it out?"

The group's enthusiasm immediately turned to Yoh at the mention of food, while the other girls babbled about the hot spring, hoping there was a separate one for them. Sung seemed rather indifferent, for she was zoned out with a small, pensive grin on her face. Once the plan was set, we all grabbed our bags and set out for the diner down the street.

"Ren," Jun said suddenly in my ear after we had paid the food bill. "We need to talk. Now."


	11. So Stubborn

The hard look on her face was by no means any good indication. She gripped my arm firmly and led me out of the diner and around the corner into a secluded alleyway.

"What's the matter with you?" I demanded, wrenching my arm free of her grasp.

"Who is she, Ren?" Jun's glare stabbed through me, and there was no question that she had figured it out sooner than I expected, but I wasn't going to let on until she actually said it.

"Who?"

"That girl! She's one of those traitors isn't she?"

I smirked at the fact that I knew she was completely wrong. "No," I said defiantly. "She's no traitor at all."

"Oh really? She is a Shing Min, is she not?"

"Yes, and what's your point?" The smirk remained on my face, and I could tell it was angering my sister.

"What's she doing here and why is she hanging around you so much?"

"You know, Jun, I would have though you of all people would know not to judge someone until you know their full story," I remarked haughtily.

She quickly reached down and grabbed the collar of my shirt on an angered impulse. "You dare…"

"She's not like the rest of them, now release me!" I growled, my smirk turning to a glare.

Jun said nothing more, but took her hand away from me. It became apparent to me that it was going to take a lot more than a few exchanged words to make her change her mind about Sung.

"Don't you find it odd that someone who comes from a family full of those who hate shamans is all the way out here competing in the Shaman Fight?

Jun had to stop abruptly and consider what I had just said. "Yes… I suppose so. I'd never thought about that before…"

"I don't care what you think about her. I will not pass her off as a bad person or a danger."

"Hmph," Jun replied, crossing her arms over her chest. "Be that as it may, I still don't trust her!"

"O-oh!" A tiny, submissive gasp came from around the corner, and I glanced past Jun's shoulder to find Sung.

My heart began to beat rapidly, and seeing the expression of shame and betrayal on her face hurt. A single tear crept down her cheek before she took off running. Impulsively, I lunged to go after her, but a hand caught my wrist and pulled me back.

"Jun!" I growled, stumbling towards her. "Now look what you've done! Let go of me!"

Yoh and the others had just emerged from the diner, their heads swivelling left and right looking for us. I slid around the corner and flew right past them in the direction that Sung had gone.

"Hey Ren, what's the hurry?" I heard Yoh ask behind me.

My damned sister… she spoiled everything we had accomplished. Sung was just beginning to be comfortable and trust us, and now this…

"Ren! Wait up!" Trey shouted. The commotion of footsteps behind me indicated that they had followed me.

I didn't care. I continued to run, my eyes scanning every alley way, turn off and side street on the way. I ended up back at the hotel we were staying at. Thinking back to the conversation we had earlier, I decided to look for Sung in the back garden.

After learning she wasn't there, I thundered up to the penthouse suite with the others close at my heels, only to be disappointed yet again. Not only was she not there, but her swords and bag were gone as well.

"Damnit!" I cursed loudly.

"Would someone please tell us what's going on?" Rio asked in confusion.

"She's heading towards the outskirts of the city. You better run fast if you want to catch her," Anna stated from the doorway of the suite.

I understood immediately and passed by her with a grateful nod. Anna was an Itako, and she often knew things no one else did.

I ran as hard as I could with Bason trailing steadily beside me, and the other boys behind me. Once the stadium was behind us, the footsteps in the dust became more distinct. I was catching up.

I had stopped at the top of a hill in the road, and I could see her running further down in the distance.

"Come on Bason!" I created my oversoul and launched myself off the peak, landing right in front of Sung. "And where do you think you're going?"

She slid to a stop to avoid hitting my blade, but she kept her face turned away and didn't say a word. The others caught up shortly after, and crowded around behind her so there was nowhere else for her to go.

"I… I'm sorry you had to hear what my sister said," I started. "I don't care what she thinks, neither do the others."

"Just… just let me go!" she hissed under her breath, still not looking at me.

"Why would I?"

"I clearly don't belong here so I'm going to be on my and not bother you anymore!"

"That's not true, Sung!" Yoh interrupted, stepping in front of her.

Suddenly the air around rushed in a violent gale, scattering the desert dust all over. I immediately noticed a high influx of spiritual power, as would be expected since Sung had materialized her oversoul in distressed rage.

"Wasn't it silly of me to think I could finally belong somewhere?" she remarked with bitterness seething in her voice.

"Stop this right now!" I demanded, forming my own oversoul. "I don't know what brought this on so suddenly, but I'll do what I have to make it right again…"

"Just forget it…" Yoh was swept to the side by one swift motion of her oversoul

This girl was almost as stubborn as me. I had been fooled right from the beginning. The social awkwardness was just a façade to hide her feelings of displacement behind, but that certainly wasn't to say she couldn't make it on her own. If I had any say in the matter from personal experience, the best way to lure a stubborn person back was to let them be stubborn.

"Fine," I concluded. "Go if you wish. I won't stop you, but I think you're making a bad choice. You're still too shut in by your past to let us in truly. If you want to leave, then go. You know where we'll be."

Without gauging the reactions of her, or the others, I turned on my heel and walked away. That decision was a difficult one to make, for part of me just wanted to fight to keep her with us. Having gone through something of the same thing myself, I knew what was in her head.

Nonetheless, I found myself back at the hotel, alone and conflicted. In my arrogance I believed she would come back before nightfall, but a smaller part of me wasn't sure at all.

"You're not going to go after her, master Ren?" Bason crooned, appearing in spirit form in front of me.

"Now is a good time to keep your words to yourself Bason…" I snapped at him.

"In all this time of serving you, master, I've never seen you this upset about something."

"I am not upset!" I shouted, my face becoming warm with color.

"…Nor have I heard you tell a lie!" Bason countered.

"Deh," I huffed, folding my arms over my chest. "I can't go after her Bason. Only she can make decisions for herself. It's just like what Yoh did for me… He left me to make my own decisions, and in the end it compelled me more to come back to them."

Bason nodded his agreement and took my warning to fall silent.

It seemed only logical that my past might bear some resemblance, but this was a different case. There were still too many things I didn't know to even guess what was going through her mind. There were too many variables…

Indeed it seemed an uncertain thing as to whether Sung would return or not. She'd made her mind up firm and clear that we were all better off without her, despite my insistent arguing. She was like me in that regard: dead set on never listening to anyone else and always thinking for herself.

But if that was really the case, would we even be in this situation at all?

The others had returned a substantial time after I did. The sound of their foot steps in the hallway and their loud, carrying voices triggered me to escape through the window before I was sighted.

I knew they would ask questions. Where was Sung? What just happened? Why did she leave?

_Why did you let her go?_

Even I didn't want to think about that question.

After successfully scaling the length of the building, my feet led me through the courtyard back to the same bench she and I had conversed at the first time. If I was to look back on what possessed me to go there at that time, well, I guess I could call it intuition.

Time had passed quickly, more quickly than I would have cared for. My thughts had come to a halt at the realization that it had grown dark. It seemed rather odd that no one had come looking for me.

But in fact, someone had.

Behind the tree directly in front of me there lingered a shadow, a very still shadow. I shifted my position on the bench, subtly acknowledging the shadow. After a few moments of residual stillness, my arms folded over my chest and my eyes pierced the tree trunk.

"Alright… come out. Don't just stand there like a stalker…" I called into the darkness.

The shadow stirred abruptly at the sound of my voice, as if startled by it. And then she emerged into the ray of moonlight.

"I'm sorry Ren…"

I'd come to grow quite fond of that soft vulnerable voice.

"Hn. Intuition indeed!" I smirked to myself. "I knew you would turn up eventually."

"You were right," Sung appeared surreally angelic as she edged toward me slowly. The moonlight reflecting from her blue hair cast a silver glow to her face, which glistened further from the streams of tears under her eyes.

"Yes yes, I know. I'm usually always right," I scoffed, waving my hand in the air as I stood up. "Just tell me one thing: Why did you come back?"


	12. The X Laws

Ren's attitude wasn't nearly as admonishing as it was earlier that day. He'd been almost offended that I wanted to leave, I just couldn't figure out why. From the moment I met him I had taken him as a man that could stand on his own two feet, and didn't need anyone to carry him through, so why would he want me to stick around so badly?

I had indeed made a big mistake in thinking I wasn't wanted. These people truly were my friends and genuinely wanted to help me.

"Because I… I don't want to be alone again…" I replied sheepishly.

"Hn, good answer," Ren grinned, turning slightly towards the building. "Because you're not alone. Now come on. Let's go inside. It's late."

With a nod, my eyes followed him as he completely turned his back on me and strolled towards the hotel's entrance way. I pressed my hand to my right shoulder to hide the blood that was beginning to seep through the thick brocade of my shirt as I followed Ren inside.

As soon as I proceeded through the door of our suite, the boys all broke out into an unintelligible babble as they swarmed around Ren and me.

"Hey Sung! Welcome back!"

"Yeah dude! We actually thought you were serious!"

"Shame on Pointy-Head for not going after you!"

I heaved a sigh of relief and amusement before stepping in front of Ren. "I'm sorry if I caused you all trouble. I was foolish to think that things would be better off I wasn't around. I was wrong, and I'm sorry."

"Hey, nothing to be sorry about Sung!" Yoh said with a bright smile. "You just needed some time to yourself. We respect that!"

"Thank you…" I replied, hanging my head with gratitude.

"Don't mention it!" Trey chimed in. "We're here for you!"

"Yes yes… you can continue with your cheesy, inspirational talk tomorrow. It's time for bed now. I'd like to be well rested for the day ahead." Ren interrupted, folding his arms over his chest.

"Yeah yeah… and maybe you won't be so grumpy…" Trey huffed at him.

We all said our good nights before settling into our previously selected corners of the suite.

My turn in the bathroom came last, and I took my time in cleaning and redressing my wound. There were no bandages at my disposal, so I had to make do with the tourniquet I had fashioned myself. It was deeper than I thought, and I knew it could not go long without medical attention. I simply didn't want to draw attention to it.

After completing my nightly routines, I made for my corner nearest Ren, suddenly exhausted from the day's events. The pain in my shoulder all but subsided which would consequentially keep me awake long into the night. Not until the first glimpse of lighter skies emerged from the window did I finally succumb to a restless sort of sleep.

Needless to say it was a very short rest, for the others began to slowly rise as the sun filled the room. Sooner than I had wanted, I felt a light prod at my side, and that distinct accented voice calling my name.

"Sung… it's time to get up now."

I turned my head sharply towards the source of the voice. Ren was crouched over me, while the others milled about and carried on their business. Yawning widely, I pulled myself up and rubbed my eyes, taking care not to irritate my shoulder.

No sooner had I stood up did the courtesy phone on the coffee table ring. Yoh and Trey exchanged looks of confusion before Yoh picked it up.

"Hello?... Yeah, that's me…O-oh, well alright then. Thanks." He hung the phone back up again before acknowledging the rest of us, who were standing around him staring. "Apparently we've got some visitors!"

"Did they say who?" asked Jocco.

Yoh shook his head, his face contorted in thought. "Well, better go see who it is!"

The others agreed, although somewhat reluctantly, and after getting dressed and washed, we headed downstairs. The receptionist informed us that the "visitors" were waiting outside the doors. It certainly wasn't someone any of us would have expected.

"Long time no see, Yoh Asakura," a tall blonde man with glasses greeted us.

The tension in the group suddenly flared, and there we no friendly exchanges among them. The white uniforms of the group opposite us seemed vaguely familiar to me.

I glanced at Ren, seeking his reaction to the confrontation. His arms were folded over his chest, closing himself off to the visitors, and a defiant glare was pasted on his face.

"And what do you want, Marco?" Yoh inquired, his usually cheerful tone was surprisingly hostile.

"We've come here humbly seeking your assistance," the blonde man replied as he pushed up his glasses.

"Of course Marco! What can we help you with?" Lyserg chimed in, pushing past Yoh eagerly.

"Tch…" Ren scoffed.

I realized in that moment who these white uniformed strangers were. The hostility from the group, Lyserg's sole acceptance, and Ren's reaction jostled my memory enough to recall the X Laws. Yoh had told me about their encounters once briefly. But why were they seeking Yoh's help now that the tournament was over…?

"Well hello there, Lyserg. How nice to see you again!" Marco smiled at Lyserg. "We have intelligence that you are familiar with a notorious group of Seekers. We need every bit of information you can give us."

"Seekers?" Trey questioned with a glare to match Ren's.

"You had a run-in with them at the stadium, just the other day!" The smirk on Marco's face widened with each word.

"Why don't you just tell us?" Ren snapped. "We have no idea what you're talking about!"

Marco took a step closer to us and pushed up his glasses. "The Seekers are the ones causing all the chaos! They'll stop at nothing to get what they want, and that includes destroying their innocent target!"

"Tell us what you want from us, or get out of our sight!" Ren yelled, brandishing his kwandao at Marco.

A glare moved across Marco's face before snubbing his nose at Ren. "We do not threaten, but it can be returned, if that's what you want. What WE want, is for you to help us in eliminating the Seekers!"

"No Marco," Yoh stated. "After what happened in the Shaman Fight, you won't be getting any help from us. Especially not for 'eliminating' people. Whoever these Seekers are can be stopped in another way, just like we did with Hao. I think it would be best if you all left now…"

"I believe you've misunderstood us…" Marco countered. "Don't you remember the motto? If you're not with us, you must be against us! Now, I'd suggest you choose a side, or we'll choose it for you!" At that moment, a fleet of enormous metallic spirits rose behind the members of the X Laws, and Marco aimed a hand gun directly at Yoh.

At the initiation of a fight, my heart began to pound, for I was in no condition to fight, and not only would I be of no help to my friends, but I would also be a sitting duck. All I could do was pray that someone would find a diplomatic solution before things escalated.

"Look you bozo!" Trey jumped in. "We're neither with you nor against you! We don't want any part of your stupid campaigne!"

That was apparently what set them off. The shot suddenly rang out, piercing my ears and causing me to jump a foot in the air. The next thing I saw was Trey hunched over, his arms covering his face, and Yoh in front of him, protecting him with his oversoul. Marco's guardian ghost, which I could only assume was an archangel, had attacked Trey with a colossal sword. The next one to jump in was Ren, who launched himself at the archangel with his giant oversoul. With a giant rush of energy, Ren was swatted out of the air by another archangel that was being controlled by one of the following members of the X Laws.

Ryu joined in following Ren's fall. The giant river dragon, Yamatano Orochi emerged and dove straight at the archangel which had attacked Ren, while Yoh continued to fend off Marco.

Soon enough, everyone else but Lyserg had joined in to the brawl. As I watched Ren get ganged up on by two enemy spirits, I had no choice but to engage myself. Ignoring the lack-luster movement in my shoulder, I materialized my Twin Sword oversoul and plunged after the archangels that were attacking Ren. Just as one of them was about to come pummelling down on top of him, I dashed in and threw my swords over my head, forming a make shift shield.

"Move it!" I yelled to Ren, who was frozen in shock, staring at me. He wasted no time after that in springing backwards and regenerating his oversoul.

Suddenly there came a flash above me, and a ball of yellow light shot over my head, colliding catastrophically with my opponent. Jocco had rushed in with his spirit fusion and taken the archangel down. Not a moment later, however, a third archangel thundered in, swiping Ren and me into the building behind us.

"Damn it… they're very strong…" I panted, picking myself up off the ground.

"They're not really, they just don't give in!" Ren retorted, leaning on his kwandao for support. "We better help Jocco… Come on!"

Ren regenerated his giant spirit control, and just before he left the ground, he grabbed my arm and pulled me up with him. The rage of the fight had shifted down the street slightly, and I knew we needed to end this now. Innocent people were standing around gawking in amazement, but someone was bound to get hurt, not to mention the damage we were causing. I learned though, that we had managed to get behind the gang of enemy over souls, and therefore had an advantage. Ahead, I could still make out Jocco's sporadic flash of his own oversoul as he darted left and right to evade the enemy.

"You can take them!" I shouted to Ren, for the enemy directly ahead was low on furyoku already.

He simply focused ahead of him, holding back his response to my call. He must already have an idea.

Bason continued to rush toward the archangel, but did not stop when I would have expected him to. A head on collision was imminent.

"Strike now!" Ren suddenly called to me.

I understood exactly what he meant as I looked ahead. Bason's giant form made heavy contact with the archangel, and I used it as leverage to leap into the air, and over its head. Using my swords as propulsion, I flung myself around and unleashed my best attack, Swords' Rain, just as Jocco was able to back off. The blast from our combined hits sent me reeling backwards, but I was able to upright myself before hitting the ground.

The by-standing X Laws watched in horror as the archangel crumbled to the ground, raising a cloud of dust around us all. Ren joined me moments after, and we stood by to watch our good work.

"That's enough!" A sudden aggressive shout came from the dust, followed by another explosion.

The ominous cloud subsided, and revealed Yoh standing at the head of the pack, sword drawn back from his final strike. The X Laws could also be seen, huddled on the ground with their backs to us to hide from their defeat.

"That was quick…" Ryu sighed, releasing his oversoul and wiping his brow.

"Don't think this fight is over…" Marco hissed, standing abruptly and turning his back to us. "We will be back to renegotiate our terms."

He stalked away without another word, and his loyal followers toddled along after him.

"Well… that was sure an interesting experience…" That was the only immediate thought in my head as the others regrouped to observe the aftermath of the fight.


End file.
